Just Paul

Thanks, Marilyn, for this great story:

A Michigan woman and her family were vacationing

in a small New England town where Paul Newman

and his family often visited.

One morning, the woman got up early to take a long walk.

After a brisk five-mile hike, she decided to treat herself

to a double-dip chocolate ice cream cone.

She hopped in the car, drove to the center of the village

and went straight to the combination bakery/ice cream parlor.

There was only one other patron in the store:
Paul Newman, sitting at the counter

having a doughnut and coffee.

The woman's heart skipped a beat as her eyes

made contact with those famous baby-blue eyes.

The actor nodded graciously

and the star struck woman smiled demurely.

Pull yourself together! She chides herself.

You're a happily married woman with three children; 

you're forty-five years old, not a teenager!

The clerk filled her order and she took the double-dip

chocolate ice cream cone in one hand and her change in the other.

Then she went out the door, avoiding even a glance in

Paul Newman's direction.

When she reached her car, she realized

that she had a handful of change but her other hand was empty.

Where's my ice cream cone? Did I leave it in the store?

Back into the shop she went, expecting to see the cone

still in the clerk's hand or in a holder on the counter or something!

No ice cream cone was in sight.

With that, she happened to look over at Paul Newman.
His face broke into his familiar, warm, friendly grin

and he said to the woman,

"You put it in your purse."